the adventures of alyssa

I blinked — and suddenly my newborn is two months old, I’ve become acclimated to sleeping about 6 broken hours each night and it seems to be sunset right after the sun rises. Such is life with two kids, haha! I’ve been wanting to write this blog post for a solid eight weeks but at the end of the night there are bottles to wash, bills to pay, and Reddit posts to catch up on — so it’s been waiting impatiently in the corner of my brain for a night like tonight. Baby is currently bundled up in her Rock n’ Play (seriously, best invention ever. Get all your friends one (yep, that’s an affiliate link, so if you click it, I make a penny), Holly is dreaming of shoes and string cheese, and Matt is sleeping, preparing for his day on set. I’m wearing leopard leggings and just came back from Yoga. It was my first exercise class in a looooong time and let’s just say I have some work to do in terms of getting back in shape. But anywho, I digress. Let’s talk about two things I’ve had on my mind lately.

I was invited to a girl’s night out at As You Wish Pottery here in Valencia. I had just had Hadley six days earlier – and while people were surprised I was out, I had a great time taking a break from babying and nursing, and painted an adorable stemless wine glass. Several of my blog buddies were there too, and the class was lead by the awesome Marketing Director, Liz, who was a very talented artist (she used to create all the display pieces) and a patient and fun teacher.One thing I loved about the class was that it was structured yet there was still plenty of opportunity to be creative and make the piece my own. One trick we used was to trace the lettering with a sharpie on to the pot through tracing paper, and then filled it in with the glaze. I felt like a real “Artiste” (say it with a French accent to add some flair) and I loved getting to be creative. Liz kept telling us the theme of the night was whimsy – something I felt as I learned how to make puddle flowers, which is where you puddle the paint in one area to create an abstract, round flower shape. Isn’t it so cute?!

Tracing the lettering.

Bloggy ladies hard at work.

Self portrait of the Artiste.

Tons of variety of things to paint!

All of us with our beautiful pieces before they get fired.

The finished product in my living room!

I’d definitely consider bringing girlfriends here for a girl’s night out, and I’m thinking this might be a fun Mother’s Day activity to take my mama to. (Fun fact: Mother’s day is on my birthday this year!) I also want to take Holly and let her just go wild on one of the cute cat statues or plates they have. There’s a HUGE variety of things to choose to decorate, with prices starting as low as $6. Be sure to check out As You Wish near you – here in Southern California, we have three locations: Valencia, Simi Valley, and Palmdale. If you happen to be in Arizona, you’re in luck because there are many more locations in Arizona, too! When Holly is older I may very well host a birthday party here for her – prices start at $175 for eight kids and they each get to paint one item. Thinking about it now, I think I actually might take my bestie this weekend so we can catch up and gab while also unleashing our inner artistes. Thank you so much to As You Wish for hosting me and my blogger friends!

One thing that’s quickly approaching is the end of my maternity leave (Waaah!). While I can admit I’m in some ways looking forward to getting back to work because it feels good to use my brain in ways other than mothering — (I’m doing a little freelance work here and there in product naming and it’s been refreshing to get creative with words again (yep! fun fact: I name toys!)), I am sad to leave my little Haddie. (But – our daycare is just a mile away and she’s with her sister Holly, so that will be great). However, one thing that will soften the blow is attending Shiftcon the last weekend in January! Shiftcon is a conference founded by my friend and business-savvy social media pal, Leah Segedie. Leah is a pioneer in the green wellness space, and her conference is a really cool medley of social media and tech workshops, health and wellness presentations, and an expo with hundreds of natural and organic care leaders. While I’m “light green” in that I’m not super educated in green stuff like non-GMO and chemtrails and stuff, I am interested of course in learning how to adapt my lifestyle and keep my children’s diet and environment as natural as possible.

Kia, me, and Leah rocking our Twitter skillz at Shiftcon 2016!

I’m attending Leah’s conference as a volunteer, and I am really looking forward to some of the workshops like “Exploring the Hidden World of Fragrance” and ” Old School Promotion–How to Get a Book Deal & Media Coverage.” One thing that’s really awesome about Shiftcon is all of the meals are non-GMO and organically sourced. I volunteered at Shiftcon last year in New Orleans, and had a blast leading their Twitter Party, taking photos, and helping organize the mannequin challenge in a gigantic expo hall. Can’t wait to have fun and learn in February! Interested in joining me? The conference is in Irvine from February 1-3, and there’s just a few passes left!

Ok – little miss just woke up for her nightly feed, so I better tend to my child. Hopefully I’ll be back soon and hope your 2018 is off to a swimmin’ start!

I finally have five minutes to catch my breath so here I am – whewww! Being a working mama, blogger, wife, friend, and somebody trying to get in charge of their health means there’s barely any time for anything anymore. But, I’m not going to preach to the choir because I know we are all busy, busy, busy! I wanted to share a few things with you today that have been on my mind lately!

The first is, this article that my friend Melanie shared about being a mom. I’m almost one year into this whole being a mom thing (how is that even possible?!), and I love it, but it IS hard. You’re in charge of raising a person – and if you want that person to be kind, smart, sensible, curious, and funny, it’s a whole lot of work. This article is something I feel like every parent needs to read, and remember, that it’s ok if dinner is a mish-mash of whatever’s left in the fridge or if you relied on Sesame Street a little too much last weekend. It happens. Be kind to yourself. I’m seeing a lot of my friends tackle parenthood too, and we all need to remember it’s ok not to be perfect or not to know what the heck you’re doing. None of us do 🙂 Read and enjoy!

I walked the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention’s 5k Walk a few weekends ago with my dear friend AJ. I am humbled and overjoyed to say that with your help, we raised over $3,000 towards mental health awareness and suicide prevention in America. Heck yeah! You all know I’ve “come out of the darkness” about my struggles with anxiety, and now it’s time for me hold up a light for anybody who is struggling and doesn’t feel like they can come forward. You matter, you count, and you can do hard things.

I shamelessly stole this photo from AJ’s blog. She won’t mind. Or maybe she will, but either way, her epic fanny pack and our beautiful team just must be shared.

A few weeks ago, I was gifted some Australian Pic’s Peanut Butter to try out and report back on. Pic’s stomps the competition (cough cough Jif and Peter Pan and Skippy) because they use hi-oleic peanuts. I can’t explain what that is very well, so I’m going to use the wonderful copy from their homepage: “Living, as you do, in the spiritual home of peanut butter, you can, if you poke around a bit, find an extraordinary variety of peanut butters and peanut oil. So why on earth should you buy peanut butter from the other side of the world? Because you won’t find any American peanut butters quite like ours. Despite the fact that our Hi-oleic nuts were developed in the US, they just can’t be grown in America. It’s something to do with cross pollination with ordinary peanuts that makes them revert within a season. The trick is to declare your whole country Hi-oleic, which is what Australia and Argentina have done. Argentinian Hi-oleics are, however, harvested younger than their Australian cousins, making them sweeter, but with a less intense flavour.” Ok, so that’s all well and good, but let’s talk about how it tastes! In one word: PURE. When you try Pic’s, you get that uncontested, 100% smooth and silky peanutty flavor. There’s literally nothing in this peanut butter other than peanuts and salt. That’s it! Two things! So when our pediatrician wanted us to start Holly on peanuts before her one year birthday to prevent allergy, we started with Pic’s. The lil’ dear loved it, of course, and now I’ve been having a delicious peanut butter toast for breakfast each morning. It’s non-GMO, 30% pure protein, with no preservatives, elmusifiers, flavorings, or weird stuff. The website is adorable, and you can score Pic’s for $8 a jar. I have a recipe I’ll share soon for no-bake Oat truffles made with Pic’s, but it’s not perfect yet, so you’ll have to wait a bit. But you know what is perfect? Pic’s. Get you some! (In the spirit of honesty, I was sent the three jars below for free, but as usual, I only write about stuff I actually like on my blogs!)

I’m going to New Orleans in December for Shiftcon, and I’ve been chosen as a Shiftcon Leader. Basically, a Shiftcon Leader means I’ll bring people together at the conference and help us all make connections, because despite our ‘shades of green’ (I’m light green, for example), we all have so much to learn from each other. Leah, the founder of Shiftcon, is generously giving away one FULL CONFERENCE TICKET to a Double Chin Diary or Lalalyssa reader! You’ll have to pay for your own transportation and lodging to New Orleans (Dec 1 -3), but you’ll get paid back in tons of information, networking, amazing swag (my sister April still raves about the swag she got in 2014), and time to hang out with me and lots of other wonderful online people. Join us! Want your chance to win? Easy, folks – just tell me in the comments section why YOU want to go to Shiftcon! This giveaway will end at 12 AM on Saturday, 10/29. So that’s soon! Hurry up and leave a comment now!

I can’t wait for the election to be over. #ImWithHer, but if you’re not, fine, but make sure you vote! It wasn’t that long ago that women didn’t have the right to vote. Do your part, your civic duty, and make sure you go to your polling place or get your ballots in by November 8. (Also: My daughter will start the first day of her second year of life with a new president elect! Cool! I just hope it’s not Trump.

Lastly, getting mail that’s not bills or store circulars is THE BEST! I laugh because my husband and I always ask “Did I get any good mail?”. Usually, we don’t, but once a month, I get a fabulous pink box and I know it’s my Pop Sugar Must Have box. The box is $39.99 and usually is filled with items that total well over $120. This month’s box came with a Lisa Sugar (founder of PopSugar) book, a Makeup Eraser, A Revlon Eyeliner, A Bath Oil, A tin of dark chocolate drinking powder, and an adorable mug. PopSugar sent me this month’s box to try, and if you’re interested, you can use code SHOP5 for $5 off by clicking this link. Here’s an example of what came in the June 2016 box, and I’m sharing some photos from this month’s box on my Instagram @lyssacurran.

That’s all I have, friends! I’ve been wanting to put down a blog post about some of the things that helped us as new parents survive the first year of my kid’s life, so hopefully I’ll get around to that before another month passes. DON’T FORGET TO TELL ME WHY YOU WANT TO COME TO SHIFTCON! <3 Hope you’re all having the best October ever!